With Pheramor celebrating its one year anniversary last week, I was inspired to share with you the five things I wish someone had told me before I started!
Do as much work as you can before raising capital.
When a company has not yet fundraised, you can come up with the most creative ideas. Before X&Y Technologies was funded and could afford a marketing firm, we did market research ourselves. In February 2017 we attend Houston SuperBowl events around the city and targeted people waiting in line for food. We asked them to take surveys on our phones. In 1 week we got 500 participants from across the country to take our market research survey and we spent $0!
Be prepared for consistent self-doubt. That’s OK.
When you’re doing something innovative and you are a trailblazer, it will be tough! Some people will not support you. Sometimes you will question yourself. I laugh now at myself how I spend the mornings thinking we likely won’t be operational in a month, and by the afternoon I think we will be the next unicorn. This up and down in self-confidence in a founder’s head is typical. This is not an easy journey but it’s worth it!
Get rid of bad team members quickly.
Your team is always better off shorthanded than having someone that’s pulling the whole team down. Don’t feel bad about asking someone to leave. Do what is best for your company and team morale.
Self-Care is as important as responding to emails.
If I am not taking care of myself than I do not perform strongly as a leader. I noticed that if I take time to meditate for ten minutes each morning I become a responder instead of a reactor at work. As a leader this is very important and I could not keep my emotions in check without quiet time each day.
Your gut feeling is likely the right one.
I’ve had so many ideas that I denied trying because I just had a gut feeling but others discouraged it. Within 3 months the idea resurfaced, and everyone wondered why we did not try it the first time! My piece of advice is to honor your intuition and go for it when you have the feeling.
It’s been a hell of a year, and this is the kind of blog post I wish I found two years ago. If you know someone that would find this information useful, please share this blog with them! Let’s keep the conversation going on Instagram, in the meantime check out the latest version of Pheramor!
Recent Comments